A Step Too Far
by grnfield
Summary: A one shot story about how Daniel became Danny. Told from Jack O'Neill's point of view it is set in a different universe to my other stories and I have no idea where it suddenly came from! Probably safe for most although rated Teen to be on the safe side.


Finally, after three weeks I am being allowed to take Daniel home. Three long weeks that were filled with tests, needles, scans, more needles, more scans and then the final verdict - this scared little boy, the one who has spent the last three weeks clinging to me like an immoveable, Naquadah-powered limpet - is in fact Doctor Daniel Jackson.

Personally I can't see why anyone ever doubted it, the kid bears more than a passing resemblance to 'grown up' Daniel and I mean...really...we've seen some weird things over the years. What's this but another strange happening in the day to day running of the SGC?

I suppose I should be insulted - after all, I've been telling them all along that this is Daniel. I've just about talked myself hoarse by explaining time and time again just what happened on 'wierdsville.'

I could do this because I saw it happen...

~#~

Daniel - the ever inquisitive, adult Daniel that is - had been peacefully doing the job he loved and I'd been following slowly behind him, trying to pretend that the history of the D'Visch wasn't interesting me at all. In fact it was amazing just how much information Daniel was able to glean from the gaudy, Goa'uldish walls in such a short space of time.

Danny had discovered that the D'Visch had been transplanted from Earth sometime during the Aztec era but it had riled him that he had been unable to find a reference to which Goa'uld actually did the 'transplanting.' The walls just kept on about 'the exalted one' this and 'the great almighty' that. There were no specific names on those walls - none at all.

This had annoyed the heck out of my archaeologist and he'd been so caught up in the gold leafed writings that he never took the time to look where he was going...or check what he was standing on.

Apparently the D'Visch either had a strange sense of justice for people trespassing on their holy ground or a truly sick sense of humour. At some point, long in the past, they had placed pressure plates in specific regions of the pyramid where only the 'holy ones' were allowed to be. By 'holy ones' we assume they meant priests. Presumably these priests had prior knowledge of where the pressure plates were so didn't get zapped by their own traps. In the last few weeks I've wondered how many other poor, unsuspecting souls had unwittingly tripped themselves back into childhood.

In his haste to unravel the identity of the Goa'uld in question Daniel had got ahead of me and disappeared round a bend. By the time I caught up Danny was resting with his shoulder against the wall and was quietly looking through a doorway. Finally it seemed that my years of nagging 'Daniel, don't go into strange rooms without me' had paid off and he had stopped to wait for me.

As I walked up he'd looked round at me and then back into the room he'd discovered. "Jack, look, it's beautiful."

I stepped across the multi-coloured patch of light that was spilling from the doorway so I was on the opposite side of the opening to Daniel. It wasn't that it was dark in the passageway, quite the opposite, it just seemed that the light inside that room was of a higher intensity to the ones which were lighting the area we were standing in. It was a bit like the passageway was lit with old tungsten bulbs and Danny's new room was lit with psychedelic halogen ones.

I know I winced at the glare as I looked through the doorway but once my eyes accustomed to the brightness I could see why Danny was in awe of the room. It was like an overgrown cathedral, far bigger than even the biggest Superbowl stadium and every wall was covered, from floor to ceiling, with millions of tiny hieroglyphs. Even though Daniel had estimated that 95% of this step pyramid was underground there were stained glass windows near the top of all four walls and these were lit from behind. It was these windows that were causing the mass of different coloured patches of light on what would essentially have been a boring, pale brown, sandy floor. There was a clear white strip of sand all around the outside of the room that the lights from the windows didn't touch. I vaguely wondered why but figured that Daniel would probably tell me when he was ready so didn't ask.

"Can I go in, Jack, please?" Danny had used his 'please, Jack, I'll be good' tone and had batted his eyelashes at me when he asked. I've never understood why he does that with me, Carter - yes, I could understand that...from both sides. Either her batting her eyes at me or him or Daniel batting his at her. The science twins generally agreed on most things but I could see the sorrowful blue eyes being used to full effect if one or the other had different ideas. I suppose I should be glad that they've never both tried it on me at the same time...now that would really would have been frightening! Anyway, I digress...Danny asked if he could go in, I peered inside the room briefly and told him, "Go. Have fun with your many, many, many squiggles."

I'm pretty sure I heard a quiet "Yes" as he scampered off along the wall to the left of the door.

I wandered slowly after him, scanning the room at all times with my P-90 and I remember thinking that Carter would be pissed to have missed this. The stronger energy signatures about eight klicks in the opposite direction from the pyramid might have been more interesting to her but I'm pretty certain they wouldn't be as...er...pretty. Hey, I know I'm an Air Force Colonel but I can appreciate art as well as the next man. I'd challenge anyone to visit that place and not be moved by the beauty.

On the other hand, what happened next would make me recommend that no-one should visit P7G-968...ever again.

My Danny may as well have been in heaven. He was making lots of contented little sounds interspersed with little words like 'Wow', 'Hmmm', 'I see' and then, lastly, the fateful words "Ooh, Jack, look at the altar."

My "Danny, wait," was cut off as Daniel stepped forwards. As he moved away from the wall he placed his boot on a section of sand that had been stained green by the light from the windows. As his foot went down on the green area there was a loud 'click' and Daniel froze. He looked up at me in panic and I met his eyes with my own before he was hit by a beam of blue light from the window in the wall above me. This was joined almost immediately by another blue beam from the wall opposite and then two green beams, one from either side wall.

As the second beam hit Daniel he began to cry out. When the third beam hit him the cry became a yell and when the fourth beam hit the yell became an all out scream. Now, I've done bad things in my time and had plenty of bad things done to me. I've heard screams of terror and pain, screams of torment and screams of abuse. I've heard screams of victory and screams of defeat but I can safely say that I've never heard quite such a scream as the one that Danny made when the beams of light coalesced around him and lifted him clear off the floor.

At that moment my radio sprang to life. It was Carter but the interference was phenomenal and I could hear virtually nothing. "Sir...hiss...assive...pop...nergy b...crackle...up...hiss...ur location...hisseceiving, over...pop"

What I got from that was that there's a massive energy build-up from my location. Well hell yeah, I know that Carter, I'm looking at it. By this point Danny had gone completely silent and was hovering about eight foot in the air. He was almost completely obscured by a ball of brilliant green light and, as I watched he seemed to blur around the edges. That's the best way I can explain it. He was there but...fuzzy.

Military protocol be damned, I hit the button on my radio and yelled into it. "Carter, Teal'c, if you can hear me, get your asses over here. Daniel's in trouble. Over."

There was a second of silence before my radio came back to life. hiss, crackle...our way...snap...ir...crackle...ver...pop..." Damn interference sounded like an advert for a certain brand of breakfast cereal.. Anyway, Carter told me that she and Teal'c were on their way.

Daniel had stopped going upwards and seemed to have settled at a height that left his boots hanging just out of my reach. I was torn as to what to, there was no way I was going to risk stepping on the coloured floor and yet I couldn't get to Daniel if I didn't.

With the butt end of my P-90 I prodded the patch of floor next to the one that Daniel had stood on. This particular piece of dirt was being colour by a red bit in the window and as far as I could tell contained no pressure plate. Gingerly I stepped onto the red patch and let out a relieved breath when I wasn't immediately engulfed in multiple light beams the way Daniel had been. The next patch, the one in front of Danny, was yellow. I gave that the same treatment, P-90...a cautious step...and breathe. The yellow patch had an odd sort of vibration about it, a resonance almost and it set off quite a pleasant tingling in the soles of my feet. Other than that it was no different to standing on the red patch.

So, I now knew the two spaces beside Daniel's were safe. I stood in as stable a position as possible and picked up a little sand before throwing it into the blue, front-most light beam. The sand travelled straight through the beam but as it hit the floor I noticed with dismay that it was steaming.

I started to use the sights on my P-90 to take a closer look at the windows where the coloured light beams were coming from. The red, yellow and orange panels were softer somehow than the green, blue and purple ones. Daniel had been prattling on earlier about blue being a colour of power. 'Blue for the air and blue for the water. The two things that no life can survive without.' That's what he'd said. See Dannyboy, I do listen to you even if you think I don't.

I turned away from my perusal of the windows to look once again onto the tormented form of my friend. As I looked I realised with horror that I could no longer see Daniel himself within the green glowing light. It shimmered and pulsed and Daniel's boots fell out onto the floor below, followed by his glasses, BDU pants, his Beretta and eventually his tac vest.

I stood, staring at the items in confusion until, suddenly, a booming voice reverberated around the room. Immediately the light beams cut out and I was glad that I'd stood with my feet braced across the two squares besides Danny's. It worked out that I was near enough and stable enough, to catch what was left of Daniel as he fell from the air.

I literally snatched him out of the air as he fell and pulled him against my chest as I jumped out of the coloured area back onto the white strip of sand that wound around the room. I stormed out of the room, down the passage and I didn't stop running until I was in the antechamber near the entrance to the pyramid.

I didn't want to spend a moment longer inside that Godforsaken building so I carried Danny out into the humid rainforest that covered this entire continent. I stopped at the top of the steps of the pyramid and attempted to lay Danny gently on the shaded area beside the sacrifice stone that he'd got so excited about earlier in the day.

At some point, while he'd been trapped in the light beams, it appears Daniel had de-aged by about...ooh, thirty three years or so. It seemed that he had been almost instantaneously changed from a well-built, dark haired, thirty eight year old, man to being a thin, scrawny five year old with a tangled mop of long, blonde hair. His boots, glasses and everything else had obviously fallen off due to the fact that there simply wasn't enough person there to keep them on but, luckily for Daniel's modesty, his T-shirt had remained on his body and now covered him almost completely.

I placed him gently on the floor but as I made to sit back up so I could look at him his eyes flew open. He looked around fearfully and, with an awful keening sound, launched himself at me and held on tight before I could so much as move. I automatically wrapped my arms around his now-trembling body, sat my butt down on the floor and pulled him into my lap.

I don't know how long we sat there before he started to calm down. All I could do was hang on and mumble nonsense to try and soothe him. It's always worked in the past but I admit this situation is somewhat different to others when I've had a tearful Danny in my arms.

Eventually he started to come back to himself and the dreadful keening noise gradually subsided into sobs and eventually into ragged, hitched breathing.

"Ja...Ja...Jack?" he managed to rasp out between breaths.

"I'm here, buddy," I replied and tugged him tighter. I had a sudden recollection of doing this one evening, a long time ago, when Sara had gone for a girls night out. Charlie had woken from a particularly nasty nightmare and had been inconsolable. It didn't matter if Daddy was there, Charlie wanted his Mommy and he was determined not to be comforted by me. I had been at a loss for a while until I'd remembered Sara telling me that she tended to stroke him back to sleep. I had rubbed Charlie's back and he had more-or-less melted into me. Sticking with what I knew I started to rub Danny's back...up and down, up and down. "Breathe slowly Danny. Slowly in and slowly out. Slowly in and slowly out. That's it, calm down now, calm down."

Daniel let out a long, shuddery breath and sat up and looked at me with puffy, bloodshot eyes. "Jack?" he asked again. _"What happened?"_

I started at that. "Danny?" I queried. "Would you like to try that again?"

He tried again, _"What happened, Jack? Where are we? Why are you so big, or have I...shrunk?"_

"Daniel. You're worrying me now. Can you speak English? I can understand Arabic fine but you're going to freak Carter out and Teal'c's not going to understand you either."

"Jack?" He obviously wasn't following me.

_"Danny, can you understand me when I speak English?"_ I asked, in Arabic. I don't have a problem speaking it to Daniel, he's known for years that I speak several different languages, including Arabic, even if I pretend no to.

He nodded. "Dónde estamos y qué sucedió?

"No, that was Spanish," I shook my head gently. I don't know how many languages he knew at five years old but we could be here a while. "Try again."

"Onde estamos nós e o que aconteceu?"

I ruffled his hair. "Portugese. Give it another go."

"Dove siamo e che cosa ha accaduto?"

"Don't know," I replied. "Sounds like it might be Italian but it's not a language that I speak. Try it one last time, otherwise we'll have to stick with the Arabic for now."

"Jack?"

I nodded and rolled my eyes at him. "Yes, we've got that bit. It's the next bit we're having a problem with."

Cheeky little so-n-so stuck his tongue out at me for that. "Jack?" he asked again.

"Danny," I replied, going along with him in a hope that it would keep things light.

"Where are we and what happened?"

"That's it Danny, I knew you could do it." I hugged him tight for that. "We...well we're outside. What...what do you remember?"

An adorably cute rumple appeared on his forehead as he thought of the answer to my question. Yes, I know, Air Force Colonel and all that. The whole of shrunken Danny was cute, well still is actually. Ask any of the women on the base, they agree with me...at least they would, if they knew I thought that too.

"I remember P7G-968," he said eventually. "I remember the Aztec step pyramid and the sacrifice stone. I remember a room that looked like a rave gone wrong and then not much after that. Why am I so small Jack? What the hell happened and why to I feel like I've been on a bad acid trip?"

"A bad acid trip?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow at him.

He looked away guiltily as if he'd just given away a huge secret. "College," he mumbled and then looked me straight in the eye and said, "And you didn't answer my question. What happened and where are we?"

"Ookay, forget the acid, take a chill pill, little dude." At the black look appearing on his face I thought I'd better back off the humour and answer his questions. "As I've already said, we're outside. This..." I stopped and slapped the large lump of rock behind us, "...this is your oh-so-exciting sacrificial altar. It appears that the room you've dubbed the rave room was mined with highly-technical alien landmines and you, in your usual Danielish way, stomped on one of the mines. It seems that the pretty rave lights didn't like you doing that and Mr Blue Light and Mr Green Light decided to take vengeance on you for it."

"What?" he asked incredulously. "Mr Blue Light and Mr Green Light. Jack what am I? Like five?"

That brought me up short. "Er...well...kinda...yeah," I spluttered."

Daniel punched me in the shoulder. "Not funny, Jack. What the hell are you on about?"

At that point I was saved by the arrival of Carter and Teal'c. Teal'c was in the lead with his machete, taking lumps out of the undergrowth to clear an easier path for Carter. The pair of them had obviously taken a route that lead straight from wherever they were when I called them to the pyramid where I was sitting. Just as well there were no game wardens around 'cos I made a heck of a mess when I hacked a path through for me and Danny earlier.

As they cleared the tree-line Sam overtook Teal'c and jogged up the steps to where she could see my pack dumped beside the altar. As she took the top step she spun round and slid to a halt beside me, obviously expecting to find Daniel in dire need of medical attention.

"Oh." Carter squeaked, yes that's Samantha Carter, a Major in the US Air Force, reduced to a single squeak by the sight of a little blonde haired boy wearing a black military issue T-shirt that was at least eighteen sizes too big for him.

Carter drastically tried to get her thoughts in order before she spoke. "Sir, is that Daniel? What happened?"

I opened my mouth to answer just as Teal'c rounded the corner of the massive altar. He took a careful look at the scene in front of him - me sitting on the floor with Danny clinging to me and Carter looking shell-shocked by my side - and raised his eyebrow.

"DanielJackson, it appears you are smaller than you were several hours ago," he said, in his usual no-nonsense way. "How has this transpired?" He then looked down at Carter, "MajorCarter, are you unwell?"

Sam looked between me, Daniel and Teal'c in confusion. "What?" she replied.

"She's had a bit of a shock Teal'c," I said gently. "You'll come round - won't you? Carter? Carter?" I ended up having to use my best 'Colonel' voice on her before she snapped out of the fugue that she'd disappeared into.

"Er...yes," she spluttered. "Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir. Daniel, how do you feel?"

"I'm fine Sam," came the quiet little voice from my lap. Daniel had burrowed his way into my chest when Teal'c had loomed over him. I guess if he thinks I'm big then T must to seem positively gigantic. "Don't really get what's going on though. Why am I cuddled up to you, Jack? Just 'cos I've shrunk a bit it doesn't mean I need to be treated like a child."

"You want me to put you down?" I asked carefully, not quite sure how to react.

Daniel wrapped his arms around my neck, almost throttling me in the process. "No," he shrieked and then stopped, sat up and looked around with a dazed expression on his face. "What was that?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"DanielJackson, it appears that you do not want to be parted from O'Neill," Teal'c pointed out. "Given your current condition I believe that is understandable."

If possible Daniel looked even more confused than he had just a minute or so ago. "My current condition? Teal'c, what are you talking about? I'm still me, I'm just...smaller."

I realised that I hadn't actually explained to Daniel what had happened to him other than being hit by bolts of light. "Danny, you're not. You're...you...you haven't just been shrunk. You're not just a smaller version of you...Aw, hell." I stopped and scrubbed my right hand over my face, my left arm and hand were still wrapped around Daniel, keeping him from slipping off my lap. "Um...ah...oh, Carter, my pack, hand me my pack."

Carter dutifully dragged my pack round from behind me and, realising that I only had one free hand, opened it up. "What do you need, Sir?" she asked.

"Shaving kit," I replied. When I got an odd look from both the Major and Daniel I simply said "Mirror."

I tried not to watch as Carter rummaged through my personal possessions and located my shaving kit. I should have asked T to get it but by the time I'd thought of that it was too late and Carter was already rummaging.

I apparently zoned out for a moment because Carter made me jump when she touched me on the arm. "Sorry, Sir," she said quietly and pressed the plastic travel mirror into my hand before scooting away and sitting back down at a respectful distance.

"Danny, here," I said. "You're not just a shorter version of yourself. Obviously your mind is still there, albeit a little scrambled but you're...you're...well you're a really, really little version of yourself. De-aged I suppose they'd call it. You know I'm not great with words and I don't know how best to explain it to you. Look in the mirror, Danny. Look and see why I'm having problems explaining this."

Daniel took the mirror off me with a bemused expression on his face. "You're being weird, Jack. In fact you're all being pretty weird." He then shuffled around in my lap until he could hold the mirror out and take a proper look at himself. As soon as he did the mirror hit the floor with a clatter and I found myself once again with a sobbing, mini-archaeologist wrapped around my neck.

Carter looked as if she was about to burst into tears as well, something that T obviously noticed as he walked silently up and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. "MajorCarter, am I correct in assuming that GeneralHammond will need to be advised about this development in as expedient a manner as possible?"

It took a moment before T's words permeated Carter's slightly-stunned brain cells. "Er, urgently? Oh, yes, Teal'c, I agree. We need to let the General know what's happened. Will you be OK, Sir?"

"O'Neill and DanielJackson will be fine. I firmly believe that ColonelO'Neill is the only person able to deal with DanielJackson at this time. There are no hostile forces on this planet and there should be no risk. With the aid of his optical devices O'Neill will be able to see any unfriendlies coming through the Stargate and would have ample time to remove both himself and DanielJackson from the vicinity of the temple before said unfriendlies could travel here. MajorCarter, if you will...?" This left an unspoken 'MajorCarter, get up off your ass and accompany me to the gate now.' Apparently Carter heard the unspoken bit and hauled herself off the floor by way of tugging on Teal'c's arm.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, Sir," she said quietly. "Are you...are you sure you'll be OK?"

"MajorCarter," Teal'c's voice reached us from half way down the steps. "It appears that I am already in front of you. Why would you choose to be a mouse when you could be a man?"

Carter turned to go and then looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. The puzzlement cleared and she set off after T with a cry of "Teal'c, are you thinking of the Hare and the Tortoise? That's a completely different expression."

T-man knew that, of course. Over the years he's got good at using humour to diffuse difficult situations. I suppose that's what hanging around me too long does. I've never seen him use it quite so successfully on Carter before though. Whether that's because he doesn't usually try it on with her or because she was in no fit state to fight it at that point in time, I don't really know. All I know was that he very successfully got her mind thinking of something other than Daniel's predicament and got her heading in the right direction without physically having to manhandle her to the gate.

Now they'd gone I turned my attention back to the soggy lump plastered against my neck. "Just you and me now, Danny. Nice and quiet again." I felt a vague nodding motion somewhere near my left ear. "You gonna come out of there any time soon?" This time his head movement was definitely in the negative and it was accompanies by a tightening of the tiny arms around my neck. I restarted the stroking that had been so successful in calming him down earlier. "Hey, hey, buddy, it'll be OK. Somehow...somehow it'll be OK."

By now he was mumbling something into my neck. I couldn't make out what it was but it sounded very repetitive. I kept up my stroking and eventually Danny went limp as he fell asleep, with his face still buried in my neck.

Now, I don't know about you but I'm rapidly approaching fifty and the padding on my butt ain't what it used to be. I'd been sitting on the hard ground at the top of those steps for too long and I don't mind telling you that my ass was past numb. I tried to remember how I'd coped years ago with Charlie but quickly came to the realisation that I'd never sat on a rock, in a rainforest, with him for hours on end asleep on my shoulder. The times when Charlie had fallen asleep on me I'd either been in a chair or on a bed, several times it had happened while I was carrying him around the mall and once when we were visiting the zoo.

Whatever the consequences I knew that I really needed to get some blood back into my butt cheeks - I knew I wouldn't be able to get up when Carter got back if I didn't. I carefully supported every part of Danny that I physically could and wriggled around until I got my ever-objectionable right knee beneath me. I then shuffled about until I was in a position where I could lift both myself and Danny off the ground and stood up. When I'd finally got myself vertical Danny made a series of distressed noises and I was worried that I'd woken him but he finally settled down again without actually waking up.

~#~

Danny was still asleep and I was pacing large, slow circles around the sacrifice stone when Carter and Teal'c returned about an hour later. As Teal'c had suggested I had watched them as they'd stepped through the event horizon and discovered that I could - more or less - track their progress through the trees as they made their way towards my position.

When they finally got to me the Major looked brighter and more composed and Teal'c...well he just looked like Teal'c - as stoic as ever and taking everything in his stride as usual. He placed an extra pack beside mine next to the altar and then slowly walked back down the stepped side of the pyramid. Once at the bottom he stood at parade rest just in front of the bottom step. Nothing and no-one was going to get to either me or Danny from the direction of the gate. Even after the conversation we'd had earlier I was comforted by the fact that I could now divert all my attention to the sleeping form in my arms. I could concentrate solely on Daniel and not worry about unwanted outside attention while Teal'c was guarding the obvious route up here.

"Sir," Carter fell into place beside me and began to match me step for step as I continued to pace. At this point I'm not entirely sure whether I was wandering around to keep Danny asleep, to keep myself calm or just because I'd got stuck in 'I'm walking around and no-one's going to stop me' mode. Whatever the reason Carter didn't seem to think there was anything strange about it, or at least if she did she'd wisely chosen to not query it.

"Carter," I said quietly. "You don't need to whisper, just...don't talk too loud. What did the General have to say?"

Carter moved aside slightly and cleared her throat before continuing. "He was shocked, to say the least. He agrees that we need to get Daniel back to Earth as soon as we can although he's made a suggestion that, as long as we think Daniel's up to it, that we don't return for another four hours or so."

I was obviously short of a bit of information or two because I couldn't see any reason to delay going home. "Why the delay, Carter? We need to get Danny to Fraiser ASAP. I mean physically he seems OK but mentally I don't think he's doing too well."

Carter winced. "I know, Sir. Janet offered to gate back here with us if we wanted but I didn't want to just bring her without discussing it with you first. We can go back and get her if you want?"

I nodded carefully, mindful of the little head which was now lolling against my left shoulder. "No, leave it for the moment. We can always send for her if we need to once he wakes up. Now, why the delay in going home?"

Carter uncovered her watch and held her arm out in front of me. "It's 1535 on Earth at the moment, Sir. If we leave it until at least 1900 then most people will have gone home for the night. Janet's already said she's staying on-base tonight and the General said he'd probably borrow a VIP suite for the night as well."

I nodded again and then stopped pacing and looked Carter straight in the eye. "OK, Carter. I'll go along with that, I can see the sense in taking Danny home with as few spectators as possible. This is going to be hard enough on him as it is. God knows what it'll do to him if we can't work out how to change him back."

Sam returned my nod with one of her own. "Why's it always Daniel?" she asked. "He just never gets a break. It makes you wonder if he did something horrible in a past life that he's paying for in this one."

I confess that when I heard Carter say that my mouth functioned before my brain could kick in and I replied, rather loudly I admit, with the stunning line of "What? Like...cosmic karma or something? Hell Carter, Danny'd've had to have been some sort of psychotic mass murderer or something to have the crap shoot of a life that he's been treated to. No way, Carter, just...no."

I've already admitted that I said that too loud, unfortunately it was just that little bit too loud and Danny woke with a start. He flung himself up off my shoulder and looked around dazedly for a moment before he obviously remembered where he was and what had happened to him. Tears came then, followed by the plaintive wail of "Jack" and I narrowly avoided having my chin split open by the low flying head aiming back towards my shoulder. Daniel's tiny hands scrabbled into my T-shirt and he burst into a repetitive peal of "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Jack, don't leave me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Jack, don't leave me." It was only after he'd buried his face back in my neck that I realised this was what he'd been repeating just before he'd fallen asleep earlier.

I exchanged a look with Carter and she quietly slipped away to bring Teal'c up to date on our conversation.

Daniel was still repeating the same phrase over and over again and nothing I did seemed to get through to him. I tried whispering, patting, stroking but nothing I tried could persuade him to emerge from my neck and eventually I resorted to kneeling down and unceremoniously dumping him on his feet on the ground between my legs. He screamed, literally, actually screamed and immediately tried to clamber back into my arms. Much as I didn't want to do it I was forced to place a hand on both shoulders and hold him away from myself so I could look him in the eye. "Daniel Jackson, you stop that right now and listen to me," I ordered, giving him a gentle shake when he didn't immediately stop his caterwauling.

Eventually either common sense or exhaustion kicked in and he stopped making such an almighty racket and looked up at me. The desolation in those big blue eyes nearly took my breath away and it was all I could do not to fold him back into a hug and to never let him go. "Hey, that's better," I said. "Are you ready to listen to me for a minute?"

Even though he still had tears rolling down his face he nodded and bit down hard on his bottom lip to stop himself from sobbing. "That's it," I said, in what I hoped was an encouraging manner. "Now, I don't know what's got rewired in that little head of yours but I guarantee...I absolutely, indisputably and unequivocally guarantee that I will never leave you here. Never, you hear me? If, for whatever reason, you cannot leave this planet then neither will I. Are you following me so far?"

I got a little nod in reply and I forced myself not to let go of his shoulders to wipe away the little dribble of blood that's now dribbling from his bottom lip. I have a feeling that the moment I let go of him I'm going to be wearing him again and if that happens I'm never going to get to talk to him.

"Good. Now, we can't get you to Janet for another four hours or so. She's more than ready to come out here to see you though. At the moment I'm thinking that might be a good thing. What do you reckon? Do I need to get her out here?"

I got a lot of frantic eye movements followed by a great deal of emphatic head shaking.

"OK, OK, stop it now. I get it - no Janet," I replied and was glad to note that he did actually stop shaking his head when I asked him to. "What about Carter? And Teal'c," I asked, pointing down the steps to where the other half of my team are deep in discussion. "Can they come up here with us?"

This time I was rewarded by an almost-shrug. "Don't care either way?" I asked, unsure whether he hadn't understood the question or had answered it too vague a way for me to follow. He shook his head, just slowly this time and I took that to mean that Carter and T were allowed in the immediate vicinity if I wanted them but that Danny was certainly not going to ask for them.

"OK, we're not sure about those two so I think maybe, for now, it's better for everyone if they stay down there. I have a feeling that Carter'd only get upset if she spent too much time up here anyway. They can keep each other company until it's time to go home. Me and you can stay up here and...er...keep each other company. OK?"

Danny nodded this time and I released his shoulders and braced for impact. I wasn't disappointed and the flying limpet attached itself back to me before I could even say 'Come here'.

~#~

After a couple of hours I managed to persuade Danny that eating something would be a good idea. I lowered myself to the floor and sat with my back against the huge stone altar. I then manhandled Daniel down from his preferred place on my shoulder and stuck him in my lap.

It turns out that eating was a good plan because as soon as he had some food inside him his mood improved tenfold and the tearing up lessened considerably and by the time we were ready to go home I had got a phenomenal amount of food into him for his size. He was still clinging to me but was something akin to rational and was even speaking to Carter and Teal'c - no-one but me was allowed to touch him though. That was something reserved for me and me alone. I had to arrange his food and drink and I had to help him dress in the kids-sized scrubs that Janet had ordered in for the infirmary since Reetou Charlie paid us a visit. Ooh yeah, trying to dress an uncoordinated kid is difficult at the best of times, I remember that from the mornings when Charlie didn't want to get dressed before school. It is almost impossible though if said child refuses to part company with either your lap or your shoulders. Anyhow, I'm digressing again...I got Danny fed and dressed and we finally managed to get ourselves organised enough to go home.

The walk back to the gate was an emotional one. I know we had Daniel with us but it was like we were leaving him behind somehow. I know Carter was having a hard time with leaving, she wasn't even bothering to hide her tumult of emotions behind a military facade like she usually did. I'm not sure I've seen Carter cry so openly before. It seemed that being one of only four people on a planet and knowing that she wouldn't be going home for several more hours had opened some sort of emotional floodgates for my Major and at one point she was out and out sobbing, wrapped safely and securely in Teal'c's arms. By the time everyone was fed and clothed ready to go back the Major had been plastered firmly back onto Carter. Maybe the chance for such an emotional outburst was something she'd needed for a while 'cos by the time she dialled the DHD she was calmer than I'd seen her in many a month.

~#~

As Carter had promised there was minimal military presence in the gate room when we reached Earth - just a couple of SFs tucked into the two corners behind the gate. Doctor Fraiser was waiting near the blast door with General Hammond and I could see Walter unobtrusively watching us from the window of the control room above.

Doc Fraiser handed me a warm blanket from a box at her feet and I traded it for the now-damp one that I'd wrapped around Danny to protect him from the chill that was normal upon reintegration after exiting the wormhole.

Before I'd stepped into the event horizon I had tucked Daniel's face into my neck and I would have been worried by his lack of movement if not for the fact that I could feel his breathe chuffing against my skin. When I wrapped the warm blanket around him his hands started up a rhythmical clenching and unclenching, you know, like that thing a cat does with it's paws when it's warm and contented...

~#~

Anyway, I carried Danny down to the infirmary and I'm more than glad that there were few people around to see our peculiar procession through the corridors. Teal'c lead the way, followed by Doc Fraiser. I came next with my precious cargo and Carter brought up the rear with the General.

Fraiser's team did their usual battery of tests on Carter and T while Fraiser herself secreted Danny and myself away in one of the ISO rooms where we were out of the view of the couple of unfortunate souls who were spending the night in the infirmary. It turned out that Daniel wouldn't be parted from me for anything and the Doc ended up doing my post-mission exam by working around him. I was given a clean bill of health and then she started onto the now-smallest member of my team.

As far as she could tell, through blood test, scans and the like, Daniel was apparently a normal, healthy five year old boy. His tonsils, adenoids and appendix were missing, just like adult Daniel's and his teeth were already adult teeth although the back several rows were missing. Fraiser assumed that this was because there was no space for them. She couldn't tell us whether they would eventually grow in if Daniel had to grow up again but said she doubted it.

~#~

Over the next few days it became apparent that there was a problem with Daniel's blood sugar levels dropping. His metabolism seemed to be working in hyperspeed and he needed to consume an incredible amount of food to keep him functioning on any sort of sensible level. If he didn't eat frequently enough then he turned very childish - overly clingy and extremely tearful. At these times I was the only person he permitted near him but even with me there he was virtually inconsolable, usually until he had cried himself to sleep and then woken up and had something to eat.

We sent a research team back to P7G-968 to try and find out whether there was a way to reverse the effect of the light beams. From careful study of the walls of the cathedral room Nyan discovered that anyone defiling the 'holy ones' realm was deemed to live his or her life again from the 'age when true learning begins.' The blue, green and purple squares were rigged to catch and de-age the 'defilers' whereas the orange, yellow and red squares were for the 'protectors of the judged.' I guess that's what the foot-tingling bit on my yellow square was about. I have no idea if my red square was faulty or what but as far as I know I never had a single tingle in that foot.

The walls told that the defilers and the protectors would be intimately linked and that once realisation had dawned on the newly-youthful defilers they would seek out the protection of their linked protector. I have no idea what would have happened if Danny had stepped on the blue square without me in the room. No-one either could or would answer that one for me, nor my other question of 'what if I hadn't stood on the red/yellow squares.'

I don't want to think about those questions. It makes me shudder every time I do. Obviously I'm saddened by the fact that I no longer have Daniel Jackson, genius, linguist and archaeologist extraordinaire, as my best friend but I'm a realist and I know there's no way we're ever going to get him back. Now, instead of a best friend, I have a son. A son with issues, that's true, but one who, as long as I feed him regularly, is a joy to be with and can relate to me on the same level as my best friend once did.

Having Danny in my life has never been simple. Since I took him to Abydos all those years ago he's caused me grief. Now however I wouldn't be without him. I've been forced into retirement to care for him but honestly, I've been threatening to retire again for years, the Danny issue just made it happen faster than anyone expected.

All in all, life is good. I've been given a second chance at fatherhood, Danny's been given another chance at childhood and I fully intend that we are both going to enjoy every moment of the experience.

Anyway, that's my story. Thanks for letting an old man ramble on.

Colonel (retired) Jack O'Neill


End file.
